Daily news sites

Smithsonian Magazine announced the finalists of their 12th annual photo contest last week and they are nothing short of spectacular.

Photographers in 93 countries submitted more than 26,500 photos. Smithsonian editors chose 10 finalists in six categories -- Natural World, Travel, People, Americana, Altered Images and Mobile. Voting is now open for a people's choice award and Smithsonian will decide a winner from each category along with a single grand prize photograph.

Winners will be announced on March 31, the same day that Smithsonian will begin accepting entries for next year's contest.

Check out the 10 finalists from the Natural World category below and find the People category finalists here. Be sure to vote for your favorite image at Smithsonian.com.

Feeling a little out of it today? You're not alone -- people all over the world are struggling to drag themselves out of the bed thanks to daylight saving time, which pushed the clock an hour forward in the middle of the night on Sunday.

John Oliver tackled the issue on "Last Week Tonight With John Oliver" this weekend, and if you think daylight saving time benefits the farmers, you're not alone. But you're wrong.

Apparently, it was introduced as a fuel-saving measure in Germany during World War I. And although it may have worked for Kaiser Wilhelm, it isn't quite as effective in the modern world -- and even leads to an increase in car accidents and work-related injuries, "Last Week Tonight" reports. In other words, "what you lose in sleep, you gain in mortal danger."

Hey, at least we'll get that hour back in November.

(Adds details on executive order, quotes from statement)
By Jeff Mason and Roberta Rampton
WASHINGTON, March 9 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama issued an executive order on Monday declaring Venezuela a national security threat, sanctioning seven individuals and expressing concern about the Venezuelan government's treatment of political opponents.
"Venezuelan officials past and present who violate the human rights of Venezuelan citizens and engage in acts of public corruption will not be welcome here, and we now have the tools to block their assets and their use of U.S. financial systems," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in a statement.
"We are deeply concerned by the Venezuelan government's efforts to escalate intimidation of its political opponents. Venezuela's problems cannot be solved by criminalizing dissent," he added.
The White House said the executive order targeted people whose actions undermined democratic processes or institutions, had committed acts of violence or abuse of human rights, were involved in prohibiting or penalizing freedom of expression, or were government officials involved in public corruption.
The seven individuals named in the order would have their property and interests in the United States blocked or frozen and they would be denied entry into the United States. U.S. citizens would also be prohibited from doing business with them.
The White House called on Venezuela to release all political prisoners, including "dozens of students," and warned against blaming Washington for its problems.
"We've seen many times that the Venezuelan government tries to distract from its own actions by blaming the United States or other members of the international community for events inside Venezuela," Earnest said in the statement.
"These efforts reflect a lack of seriousness on the part of the Venezuelan government to deal with the grave situation it faces." (Reporting by Jeff Mason and Roberta Rampton; editing by Susan Heavey and G Crosse)